Nightly Torture
by Yoruyonaka Sakusha
Summary: Kyo had never been one to have normal dreams. It just didn't happen. Why, he could never understand, but what happens in his life seems to affect what he dreams of. So, what happens when Yuki is around him too much? Nightly Torture, that's what. Yuki/Kyo
1. Dream one: Fishing for You

**Okay people. I'm trying to stick to my promise here and have actually made some headway. For those of you excited that I've finally updated, please calm down. It's only one chapter, although I HAVE RE-WRITTEN THE ENTIRE THING, SO SOME SCENES MIGHT BE DIFFERENT THAN YOU REMEMBER!!! I have some time lately, and am attempting to finish this story up for all of you who have been waiting for two years (yes, that long…). Anyway, yeah… go on.**

**Warnings: This is YAOI! That mean's it is boy/boy romance. Yes, **_**homosexuality**_**. If you flame me or leave a rude comment because of this I will hunt you down.**

**Pairing: Yuki/Kyo (My favorite pairing!)**

**Rating: Currently T**

**Disclaimer: It not be mine.**

**Chapter title: Dream one: Fishing for you**

Kyo Sohma had never been one to have normal dreams. It just didn't happen. Nothing would make sense in them whatsoever, and extremely strange things occurred that often made him question his subconscious mind's sanity. The most normal his dreams had ever been were when he little, but that was probably due to the fact he lived in less strange of an environment. He would have dreams of cats, mostly, talking to him about one thing or the other. Sometimes they would pick him up and carry him around, play with him, bury him behind the house…

You know, since he was the cat of the zodiac and all, they were pretty standard. Thankfully, none of them were ever really scary (because who knew what kind of terrors a mind like his could think up), but were mostly just confusing.

Life didn't help much with that part. All of his dreams seemed to, in one way or another, have something to do with how his day had been. For instance, back when he was a kid cats would swarm around him on a normal basis when he got angry (which happened to have been a lot), so on a normal basis he would have dreams about talking to cats. Which attributed to why, back then, he used to have somewhat normal dreams.

Unfortunately, when you're part of the Chinese Zodiac and live in a house where your Zodiac cousins like to jump in and beat you up (courtesy of Kagura) or annoy you to death (courtesy of Momiji and many others), things can get a little crazy.

So, naturally, Kyo felt blessed just to have a dreamless night.

Today, however, seemed to be one of the more unusual days of his already unusual life.

Somehow, Yuki, Shigure and Kyo had all managed to end up sick and Momiji and Haru had come to visit, despite the fact that they both knew they all were really in no condition for having company.

Scratch that. Yuki and Kyo were in no mood for company. Shigure, however, seemed to have no problem with using Momiji's constant hyperactive state to his advantage in means of fetching things for him around the house. Though, there really was no need because Tohru had already brought the all they really needed. At the moment, she was sitting on the ground next to Momiji, talking idly with him about favorite foods. Haru (who honestly wasn't any help at all) was also sitting on the ground, listening to the two talk while occasionally glancing at Yuki to make sure he wasn't having problems with his breathing.

Kyo was simmering quietly on the couch next to Yuki (Shigure having occupied the single chair before he had gotten a chance at it), trying to keep his temper in check. He wanted dearly to yell at the rabbit – who had an amazing ability to be loud even though he was only talking – and just kick him and the cow out of the house. He knew, though, that this would only result in Momiji pitching a fit, cause Tohru to worry and make himself look like the bad guy, the overall effect ending in an extremely bad migraine. Not that his headache was fairing well at that moment. He wondered why he was even down there in the first place. It wasn't as if he wanted to be around anyone right now, so…

"Kyo." Shigure said, snapping him out of his angry little trance.

"_What?_" Kyo snapped back, voice sounding hoarse as his headache increased due to his refocus back on the room. Was it supposed to be pulsing like that along with his heartbeat?

"Why don't you go take a shower? Get ready for bed early." Shigure had already taken one before Haru and Momiji had arrived, so he was all set. Otherwise, he would have taken it first.

"Ah, yes. If you sleep more your body should recover faster." Tohru agreed, smiling up at Kyo.

Kyo mumbled something under his breath in irritation, but complied anyway, getting up. A shower and bed sounded nice right then, especially if it meant getting away from all of the noise.

"When he's done, you should do the same Yuki." Shigure added.

"Yeah…" Yuki muttered, shifting under the blanket that sat on his lap. He closed his eyes briefly as Momiji agreed loudly and continued to ramble on about one thing or another. Quite frankly, he was sick of all the noise too.

"Is there anything I can get you Yuki-kun? I don't want you to be any more uncomfortable than you have to while you're sick!" Tohru said, another tizzy of worry coming over her as she glanced about Yuki for anything out of place.

Yuki shook his head, smiling gently at her. "Thank you Honda-San, but I'm fine." He said, his voice sounding scratchy and weak. He gave a light cough.

"I really am very sorry! To think that I'm the only one not sick!"

"Don't be sorry. It's our own fault for not having taken care of it while it was just a cold. I'm glad you didn't get sick yourself." Yuki assured her.

Their voices finally faded away as Kyo climbed the stairs, his weakened state making his body decide it needed to take it's time. He sighed and rolled his eyes, hearing Momiji yell excitedly again.

Honestly, Tohru was going to end up getting herself sick if she kept worrying so much about the three of them. It wasn't as if they all couldn't take care of themselves. Especially Yuki; he didn't need _anyone_ fussing over him. Neither did Shigure, for that matter, since Kyo was pretty sure his 'sickness' was the mental kind in which he liked to torture his editor...

Though he could hardly expect Tohru to listen to that kind of logic.

* * *

Kyo stepped out of the shower, feeling thoroughly clean and warm, despite being sick. As he walked down the hall to his room, he saw Yuki coming up the stairs to head for the shower. Kyo entered his room and closed the door, not bothering to turn on a light. He slipped on a pair of boxers and crawled into his bed, settling against the comfortably cool covers in for much needed sleep. 

_There was a very large rabbit in front of him, sitting on it's haunches and still managing to be at least one body length higher than himself. A bright orange collar hung around it's neck, and it had a tuft of yellow hair at the top of it's head As it stared down at him, Kyo got the feeling that it wanted to eat him, which it could easily do. Kyo just stood there though, unsure of what to do._

"_No, no! Don't eat him." A voice called from atop the rabbit, which turned to the side to reveal Tohru on it's back. "We have to go and get those dog bones!" She said worriedly, pulling on reins attached to the rabbit's collar, reeling it about before running off into the distance._

_A sudden change of scenery found Kyo sitting on a dock in the middle of the ocean with a fishing pole in his hands. Looking around, he soon saw Haru in a canoe, a fishing pole in his hands as well. He jerked his pole and a large fish followed on the line._

"_Hey!" Kyo yelled. "That's my fish!" How dare Haru steal his fish? He didn't even like fish!_

_Haru stuck out his tongue at Kyo, putting the fish in a large barrel filled with Kyo's fish._

"_Give them back!" Kyo yelled, watching as his fish jumped up and down inside the barrel, calling to Kyo for help._

"_Catch your own." Haru said calmly. "Or I will. I'm looking for the big one, and I'll catch it first!" Haru cast out his fishing line._

_Kyo glared at the water, willing all of his fish to come up to him so he could eat. He was hungry since he hadn't eaten any dinner. He cast out his fishing line as Haru pulled in another fish. He growled irritably. In the water, all of the fish were dancing around his hook, laughing at it. None of them went for the worm…_

_Wait a second. That wasn't a worm! It was…cheese?"_

_Hands suddenly clasped around the hook, taking hold of the cheese. Kyo reeled in the line excitedly. Finally! Though what he lifted out was no fish, it was a body which he let down in front of him. It let go of the cheese to push grey hair out of it's face, and Kyo realized that it was Yuki! Not only that, but he wasn't wearing anything but a towel that hung around his hips._

"_Hey, Kyo!" Haru yelled from his canoe. "I'll trade you all my fish for that one!" Haru pointed at Yuki, who grabbed Kyo's arm fearfully._

"_Yeah, Kyo!" Shigure said, popping up out of Haru's barrel. "We want __**that**__ one!"_

"_No way!" Kyo yelled back. "This one's mine!"_

_Shigure pouted. "I want that one! Momiji! Get if for me okay?" Shigure looked over his shoulder. "Momiji!"_

_A giant bunny swam up to them, making the dock and canoe rock a little. Tohru was still riding on it's back, reins in hand. The bunny jumped out of the water, shrinking back into a normal sized bunny in Tohru's arms as they landed. When she let it go, it turned into a fully clothed Momiji._

"_Kyooooo! Give that fish to Shigure! He's sick!"_

_Kyo put a protective arm around Yuki. "No! I caught this one fair and square!"_

_Momiji took Haru's fishing pole._

"_Kyo! Please!" Tohru pleaded from the canoe._

_Momiji cast out the fishing line, which flew over and hooked onto Yuki's towel. Momiji pulled and Yuki slid to the end of the dock. Yuki fought it though and didn't get pulled off. Momiji gave one final yank and Yuki's towel flew off._

Kyo shot up out of his bed, head giving a very painful throb as a wave of dizziness came over him. He fell back onto the bed and stared incredulously at the ceiling.

"What the hell!?"

**So yeah. It's basically the same thing, but to get back into the groove of things I'm redoing it all because of the mistakes I know I've made and the funky wording I did. For those of you who read this and care to know, I will not be updating the story Holding Back, however I will leave it up since I know I hate it when authors delete stories I love just because they gave up on it. So yeah… Two years… ahaha… And hey, does anyone know why TAB doesn't work on the document? Or is it just mine? **


	2. That Damned Red Tint

**Heylo. Not gonna repeat myself about the whole rewriting thing, so if you want more detail go back to the first chappie's author note thingy. So, yeah. Have fun reading!**

**No changes made as far as pairings, ratings, or the disclaimer.**

**Chapter title: That Damned Red Tint**

_Momiji gave one final yank and Yuki's towel flew off._

Kyo shot up out of his bed, head giving a very painful throb as a wave of dizziness came over him. He fell back onto the bed and stared incredulously at the ceiling.

"What the hell?" Kyo asked himself, pressing his hands onto his eyes as he realized exactly what his subconscious had almost shown him.

God, he had fought over him! Disgusting! Why would he ever even think of doing that kind of thing! He didn't want Yuki in any way, shape or form! Much less a scantly dressed one! AAGH, don't think about that DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT! Kyo mentally kicked himself. Repeatedly. When that didn't seem to work to well he yanked his pillow from under his bed (not a good idea, bad for the headache), and pressed it over his face, practically cutting off his air supply in the process. He ignored his protestant head for a moment and forced his mind to go blank. That's right. As long as he didn't think about it, talk about it, or even _remember_ it, it was as if it never happened.

'_Alright._' Kyo thought. _'I did not just dream of Yuki in a towel. I did not just dream of Yuki in a towel. I did not just dream of Yuki in a towel. I did not just dream of Yuki's towel getting pulled off. I did not just dream of Yuki's towel getting pulled off. I did not just dream of almost seeing –'_ Kyo stopped his self hypnotism at once, instead shoving his face further into the pillow.

Sometimes, he really questioned his subconscious mind's sanity.

Eventually, Kyo calmed down enough to look over at the clock.

7:15 am.

Damn. Even when he was sick, Kyo seemed to automatically wake up early. He sighed, tiredly, wishing that he could have slept a little longer….

NO!! _NOT_ a little longer! If only he could have slept _less_. LESS! Not longer so that he would see….

The pillow found it's happy way back to Kyo's face.

He was pressing It on himself so violently that he didn't notice the small knock or the door to his room open.

"Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked, eyeing the suicidal cat with worry. "Kyo-kun, are you alright?" Her voice raised a bit when she received to response. She rushed to his bedside. "Kyo-kun!"

Thankfully, Kyo sensed movement next to him and took the pillow off his head, otherwise she might have woken up the entire house with frenzied worry. Kyo cleared his throat before speaking. "What's up?" He asked, voice scratchy as it was yesterday. Aah, god. Was the room supposed to feel like it was tilting around?

"Are you alright? I was worried you might have hurt yourself!" Tohru looked Kyo over, as if she might have missed some sign of pain.

Kyo gave her a brief smile. "I'm fine," He lied, making a mental note not to suffocate himself when he was sick. Who knew a migraine could be further agitated so quickly? "What are you still doing home, though? You'll be late for school, y'know."

"O-oh! Yes! You're right!" Tohru noted that his voice sounded horrible. "U-um. I just came to check to see if you were awake. Yuki-kun and Shigure-san aren't yet, but I guessed you might be…" She trailed off for a moment before getting back on topic as she noticed that Kyo's face looked flushed with a fever (it was actually the lack of air). "Hatori-san is coming over today around lunch time to check up on all of you. He's sorry for not being able to come sooner!"

That made sense. The doctor hadn't been able to come out yesterday because it seemed a bug had passed through a lot of the Sohma house, so he had been busy lately. Kyo suspected that Haru was the cause, since he had gotten a slight cold around the time it started it's round.

"Alright. I'll tell the dog. You better get going." Kyo pushed himself up into a sitting position

"Are you sure? I mean, I would be fine with staying home! All of you are so sick and I wouldn't want any of you to push yourselves to hard!"

"Nah. We can take care of ourselves. Besides, if you go to school you'll have less of a chance of catching whatever we have."

Tohru gave him one last worried look before finally agreeing, making a mental note to pick up some cough syrup and some Tylenol. Of course, though, she wouldn't leave until she was sure he knew what to do if he needed her, where the lunch was and on and on until Kyo finally stopped her to make her leave.

Kyo watched from his window as she walked off, sighing as he realized that with it being 7:30 she would probably be late.

Deciding he didn't want to sleep all day long (though it was tempting), Kyo slipped on a shirt before pulling himself out of bed, vaguely realizing it wasn't the best idea to sleep like that when he was sick. As he got up he had to fight hard against the throb in his head to regain his balance as his ears rushed, becoming dizzy with the sudden change in height.

His head throbbed audibly in his ears with protest, but he somehow managed to sway out of his room and down the stairs, only tripping on the last step. Once down there, he flopped onto the couch with another sigh. He must really be sick for walking down the stairs to take so much out of him. He pondered for a while what he should do, shifting into a comfortable position against the arm of the chair. A movie maybe. Tv could be good. A snack.

Kyo's thoughts jumbled randomly as the purpose of getting out of bed in the first place slowly faded from his mind and he fell back to sleep, head drooping and body relaxing into the cushions of the couch.

Thankfully, this sleep was a dreamless one, so there was nothing to cause him to wake up suddenly or to keep his mind so preoccupied it was as if he got not sleep at all. This wasn't necessarily a good thing though, seeing as how never seemed to be able to win.

It was quite a while before another set of footsteps could be heard stumbling their way down the stairs. It was painfully apparent that these feet were much more uncoordinated than what was safe, unbalanced and without real purpose as their owner swayed above them. Somehow, the pair of feet managed to lead the body down the stairs without fault. Had Kyo not been in the deep sleep he was and woken up, he would have seen a pair of grey eyes under rumpled gray hair staring blankly at the room. Though these eyes were open, it was apparent to anyone that he was clearly _not_ awake.

Somehow working out that it was the best thing it could do, the pair of feet under the boy moved unsteadily towards the sleeping Kyo.

Which lead to this rather… _interesting _scenario.

Kyo slept for about an hour before he sluggishly began to wake up. He was extremely comfortable, warmth and heat generating from a rather large something in front of him. And it was moving, slightly. A kind of subtle, up and down motion…

Breathing.

Kyo's eyes snapped open, lifting his head quickly – and almost getting whiplash along the way – to see what the heck had crawled onto his couch. When he saw what this was, or rather, _who_ it was, Kyo froze.

This large who was Yuki. A large Yuki that was currently curled up to Kyo's chest, facing him, head just under Kyo's chin, legs tangled with his own and both hands clutched in a careful grip on the front of his shirt. Kyo nearly jumped and panicked when he realized the he himself had been accepting of this position, one arm bent under his head to act as a pillow while the other was draped lightly around the slim waist of a snuggling, warm, Yuki Sohma.

Kyo jerked his arm back, face flushing a dark red.

Holy fuck.

Kyo was in contact with a zonked out, snuggling Yuki.

Kyo forced his mind away from the remembrance of his dream, and instead assessed the situation in the best way he could in his current state.

He was being harassed.

Yup.

There was no other word for it.

He was being sexually harassed by Prince Yuki Sohma himself.

...NO! Not _sexual_ harassment. There was nothing sexual about this! NOTHING! It was mere physical harassment that had nothing to do with towels, or fishing, or snuggling! Nothing at all! Which meant he shouldn't be thinking about it, but rather the fact that Yuki was currently clinging to him in his sleep because he had somehow ended up on the couch with Kyo who had somehow not woken up at such a disturbance because he hadn't slept well because Yuki had been in a towel in his dream and -

_Chuckle, chuckle_

Kyo looked up, getting redder as he realized there was a spectator to said _physical_ harassment. Immediately, the jumbled mess of his brain went into high gear and organized everything quickly and simply.

He needed to get up to his room. _Now_.

Because that perverted smile that Shigure was giving him from his seat on the chair opposite to the couch.

"Awwwww." The man cooed. "Cuddling are you, Kyo? How sweet."

"Hell no!" Kyo yelled hoarsely, moving to sit up only to meet the resistance as Yuki's grip on his shirt tightened.

"Oh dear Kyo. It would appear that you're blushing!" Shigure teased shamelessly.

"Shut up! I am not!" Kyo tried to pull out of Yuki's grip. _Damn he's strong_. "Wake up dammit!"

Yuki stirred a bit, protesting being woken up. He was so comfortable, why did Kyo have to-

Wait. Kyo?

Yuki opened his eyes, mind registering finally that there was something in front of him. Something _warm._ His pillow maybe? His though process stopped there, as he felt his 'pillow' squirming away from him, the space being created between them allowing for cold air to chill his body. Determinedly, Yuki wrapped an arm around his 'pillow' and pulled it closer to him so he could begin to fall back to sleep.

Kyo's breath hitched. Why the hell did Yuki have to be so strong in his sleep?

"Kyo, you look a bit flustered!" Shigure snickered. "Oh! Wait, don't move! Let me go get my camera!" And Shigure disappeared. Well, either Shigure was having a huge 'recovery', or he was pervertedly enthusiastic about Kyo's current. . .position. You could suspect him of either.

"YUKI! Wake up!" Kyo yelled, scowling in frustration down at the boy holding him. Kyo grabbed Yuki's arm and pulled at it, trying to get free of the grip. This seemed to wake Yuki a bit further. Groaning, he pushed his head into Kyo's chest, protestant at the constant interruption of his sleep. Kyo shrank back quickly.

Again, Yuki opened his eyes, this time honestly trying to determine exactly what was causing him such discomfort. He lifted his head up enough to see a bright red face staring down at him helplessly.

Kyo. What was Kyo doing in his bed?

Yuki snapped out of his dazed state suddenly, realization dawning on him at last, and he jumped up only to fall backwards off the couch.

Using his newfound freedom to his fullest, Kyo bolted from the room, rushing up the stairs and into his bedroom to slam and lock the door, deciding that he would very much like to just spend the rest off the day right there.

Shigure caught the last glimpse of an extremely red faced Kyo as he ran up the stairs at a surprising speed for a sick person. Glancing over the couch he saw Yuki on the floor in a state of shock. He was tempted to take a picture of that in itself, but took pity on the confused rat to tease him instead.

"Did your snuggle buddy leave you Yuki?" Shigure asked in mock sorrow, sticking out his bottom lip.

"What are you talking about?" Yuki asked, a blush already starting it's creep across his face.

"Kyo of course! You were snuggling right up to him before he ran off. I must say, you two looked very cute all curled up on the couch..." And Shigure rattled on about the subject, despite Yuki's protests, causing him to blush even more.

Who ever knew it was possible for two people to turn to red? That damned red tint!

**Chapter two: check! Ha. Keep going, keep going. I'm having more fun now that the whole this is coming back to me. Feel free to pause and review the chapter though! Tell me if there are any mistakes, cuz all my documents always load horribly! Weeee!**


	3. Hatori Knows Best

**Aaaand on to Chapter 3. Yes. I'm trying to work fast… So, yeah… not much to say but read on!!**

**Disclaimers, warnings and pairings are still the same.**

**Chapter Title: Hatori Knows Best**

It was quite a while before Kyo could stop rolling in embarrassed agony on his bed sheets, and even after that it still took a long time for him to get his face to return to it's normal color. It didn't help that every time he thought about the whole thing he got flustered again. If he _ever_ wanted to leave his room again, he'd have to be able to keep his damned face from flushing whenever he saw Yuki. _Especially_ with Shigure down there.

God… That damned rat! What the hell was wrong with him! Just thinking about it he was disgusted with himself. What the hell was that idiot doing walking around while he was sleeping anyway? Because that was most certainly what the bastard had been doing. The jerk just didn't have the brains to not walk around when he couldn't even open his eyes

Kyo jerked himself back against his bed, closing his eyes.

_"Shigure won't ever let me forget this one…"_

Yuki thought as he walked out of the room, extremely embarrassed, while Shigure continued to laugh. He was a little confused. What had just happened, anyway?

Alright, so, he had been on the couch with Kyo. And apparently he had been…doing some clinging to the boy. How had he gotten there though? Surely he hadn't done that himself. But then again, Kyo hated him, and he certainly wouldn't have done that himself. So, it had to have been him, especially considering the position they had been in (which Yuki really wasn't going to think about right now). Now that he thought about it, he did half remember getting out of bed and coming down for some reason or another… but the rest was lost to him.

Either way, it was hard to believe that his half asleep mind had decided the best place to lay down was next to Kyo. Then he had to go and snuggle with him and make a fool out of himself…

Yuki tried to dismiss those thoughts quickly. He had been asleep, how else could he have reacted to warmth? And Kyo really was _very_ warm. Of course, not meaning that in a strange way! Kyo was just warm since he's the cat…that was all.

That was all!

Yuki again shifted his thoughts again, not wanting to ponder on it any longer. The more he thought about how much he liked Kyo's warm body - no…how strangely he had reacted being near Kyo – no that wasn't it; how odd he had acted half asleep (that was it), the more complicated it would get. He really didn't need to be getting flustered now anyway, especially with Shigure just in the other room. The dog had an annoyingly easy time of picking up on how people were feeling. Yuki glanced at the clock above the stove, leaning against the counter as he felt the fact that he was sick catch up with him.

11:47 pm

Not the latest he had ever slept. Perhaps if Kyo hadn't – no. NOT thinking about that. Food. Thinking about _food_ now. Calmly thinking about food, Yuki opened the fridge door and looked irritably at it's contents. His eyes drifted to the milk carton. No way was he having any of that, not after Kyo repeatedly drank directly from it.

Were Kyo's lips warm too?

Yuki slammed the fridge door shut. He was tempted to close his head in one of the cabinets to knock some sense into him when he hear voices.

"You seem to be doing well enough." Yuki turned and saw Hatori standing in the doorway. "Your face still looks a bit flushed though."

Yuki ignored that last observation. "What're you doing here Hatori?" He asked.

Hatori raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Tohhhru tell you I was coming this afternoon?"

Shigure popped in behind the doctor. "She was gone when Yuki and I woke up."

"She would have told one of you. What about Kyo?" Hatori reasoned.

Shigure smiled cheerfully. "Ah, she must have. We didn't get to talk much though, since he was too busy cuddling with Yuki."

Hatori blinked. "Snuggling?" That didn't sound quite right.

"Be quiet!" Yuki exclaimed, getting red as he shot a venomous look at Shigure.

"Oh Yuki-kun, don't give me such looks. It's only the truth." Shigure whimpered, hiding behind Hatori.

Hatori kept a passive face. Shigure had been known to exaggerate a lot. "You two were snuggling?" He asked for clarification, because that couldn't be the case.

Yuki's face reddened though. "No! I was asleep! I mean…!" Yuki shot a death glare at Shigure before stomping out of the room.

Hatori watched him leave in silence. Yuki's blushing indicated that he had in fact done something at least related to snuggling with Kyo. Hatori figured that there was probably a little more to it than just that, but…

"Oh, you should have seen those two!" Shigure said once Yuki was out of the room (though he could probably still hear the dog), "All curled up on the couch together! Hee hee!" Shigure wiped his tearing eyes.

"They really were then?" Hatori asked, rightfully surprised.

"Well of course, when Kyo woke up he had no idea Yuki had been there. I guess Yuki was half asleep when he came down. "Shigure stopped, going into a fit of laughter again. "H-his face…was p-priceless!"

Well. It certainly was odd that Yuki had subconsciously gone and done that, but in his sickened state odd behavior could be expected. Maybe he was a bit worse off than Hatori had first estimated… Oh. That's why he was there. To check up on them all.

Hatori looked Shigure – who was still laughing – up and down. He called himself sick? Ha. Most likely a ploy to torture his editor again. How the poor woman stayed on the job for so long was a mystery to him.

Hatori walked back into the living room after Yuki, who was sitting disgruntled on the couch.

Yuki ignored their presence pointedly, simmering in his anger and causing his headache to worsen, which, in turn, put him in a very bad mood. On top of that, he had only woken up a little while go. Put all that together, and you might just have a Yuki with a worse temper than Kyo. Hatori was nearing him, medicine bag now in hand (where had he pulled that out of, his pocket?). Before Hatori could even reach him, a comment escaped from Shigure's mouth.

"The couch certainly doesn't seem big enough to have held both of them, does it?"

Yuki snapped, jumping to his feet and before Shigure knew it, there was a throbbing lump on his conniving head. Shigure 'eeped' loudly, before letting out fake sobs of pain.

"Wah! Yuki-kun! You're so mean!" He cried despicably, phony tears pouring from his eyes.

"Then shut up!" Yuki yelled at him.

"Shigure...Yuki..." Hatori honestly didn't care that Yuki had hit Shigure (the man deserved it). However, the fact that Yuki was being so far out of character to lose his cool against Shigure was subject for concern. Also, Hatori noted, Yuki's face was getting paler as he yelled, and he was leaning heavily against the side table for support.

He should really stop them...

"WOULD YOU GUYS SHUT UP!?"

The three of them turned to see Kyo standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking ready to pull his hair out. How on earth was someone supposed to get better with all the yelling going on just downstairs? The walls weren't exactly sound-proof, and Kyo's ears actually _were _slightly more sensitive than normal.

"Kyo." Hatori said in greeting.

"Kyooooo." Shigure called, changing gears immediately. "Did you know Hatori was coming over?"

Kyo paused for a moment, not quite willing to leave his angered mood yet. "...yeah."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Shigure asked. _Go on Kyo, say it._

"Tch. _I was kinda busy -_" Kyo caught himself, realizing what he was saying, but unfortunately not in time.

"Busy snuggling with Yuki?" Shigure teased without missing a beat.

"Shut up!" Kyo yelled, leaning against the wall slightly and wincing as his own voice reverberated through his skull. "It's that Damn Rat's fault in the first place!"

"How is it my fault?" Yuki retorted angrily, riled up. "You should have been able to wake up, Stupid Cat!"

"I'm sick moron! And I don't remember inviting you to lay on the couch!"

"I'm sick too! How do you expect me to even know where I am if I've just woken up _and_ I'm sick!?"

"You should have been able to wake yourself up dammit! Not just go wandering through the house asleep!"

"I can't help it if I can't wake up in the morning!"

"Then stay in bed! Don't get the rest of involved with your sleeping habits!"

"You're the one to talk! YOU stay in bed instead of sleeping on the couch!"

Hatori quietly observed the bickering between the two. With every word, they were looking worse and worse, but neither of them seemed ready to consider backing down.

"At least I was awake before I came downstairs! I fell asleep on the couch, I didn't sleep walk to it!"

"For the last time, I can't help it if I walk around in my sleep! And do you really think I _like_ waking up like that?"

Hatori calmly lead Yuki over to the chair, then guided Kyo over to the couch.

"If I recall, it was _me_ who had to struggle to get _you_ off!"

Hatori examined them quickly for a moment, easily recognizing their symptoms as pertaining to some form of a small flu bug that had been running through the family recently. He opened his medical kit and searched around in it for a moment.

"That's disgusting! Don't even imply that I enjoyed that!"

"I don't WANT to imply anything like that! I'm only saying what you did!"

Hatori drew out two needles and two alcohol patches. He rubbed one of the alcohol patches over a small area on Kyo's upper arm, then inserted the needle and injected the medicine he had prepared beforehand. Kyo barely spared him a glance, the only sign he even knew Hatori was there being that he stilled his movements.

"Well don't! I don't need to be reminded!"

Hatori moved over to Yuki.

"You think I _want_ you thinking about it!?"

Hatori injected the same medicine into Yuki.

"Well, you seem plenty eager!"

Hatori moved back to to stand next to Shigure and watched patiently.

"Now _that's_ disgusting!"

"So stop talking about it!"

"YOU stop...thinking about... it" Kyo's voice dropped a notch.

"Stop shoving it...it in my... face then..." Yuki's did as well.

"...damn...rat..." lower

"...s-stupid...cat..." lower

Kyo mumbled a few curses under his breath.

Yuki muttered something angrily under his.

And they both nodded off to sleep.

Shigure looked a bit deflated as he looked at Hatori questioningly.

"First of all, you should know that the fight was your fault completely."

"But-"

"I had put sedative into the serum previously due to the exhaustion this particular flu bug causes. They should be fairly calm when they wake up as well." Hopefully...

"Aaaaw... it was getting interesting." Shigure complained

"_You_ seem to be just fine." Hatori commented disapprovingly

Shigure only smiled pleasantly at him, walking Hatori to the door. Before Hatori left, he turned and looked at Shigure sternly.

"Don't wake them up. They'll be disoriented. And don't to anything to then while they're like that."

"Oh don't worry. I'll just make them comfortable." Shigure waved Hatori off.

Shigure chuckled, reentering the house. Make them comfortable...they had honestly looked sooo comfortable before...

Shigure carefully guided the now completely uncoordinated Yuki up from the chair and over to the couch Kyo was on, where the orange haired boy had sunk back into the couch so his head was lying comfortably in the corner where the arm and the back of the couch met. Still chuckling, Shigure directed Yuki into the space between Kyo and the back of the couch. The two of them shifted unconsciously for a second before settling into place.

Shigure turned happily, going to retrieve the camera he had left on the side table. That he had...left...on the table?

Where was it? He remembered distinctly putting it there...

It didn't take long for Shigure to realize exactly where it must have gone, and fake tears once again streamed down his face.

_Hatori sure knows me well._

**Third Chapter done! HA! So, yeah... Not much else to say. Review please, k? I'll love u forever!!! XD **


	4. Of Cats, Rats and Pictures

**Chapter four, chapter four -sings-. Yaay. I feel very proud of myself for doing all this. Aaaanyway,**

**Rating, pairing and disclaimer still the same**

**Chapter Title: Of Rats, Cats and Pictures**

Normally, Kyo would have been the first to wake up. Yuki couldn't count on one hand how many times he had woken up before Kyo (that he knew of) on one hand because there weren't any times to count. Well, that is, until this time...

This time around, waking up was unusually hard. When Yuki woke up, he was always in a daze due to low blood pressure or something. His eyelids were heavy, his heart rate was excessively slow, his limbs were lax and a light, buzzing sort of blurriness that clouded his thoughts. He didn't register things around him easily. He didn't acknowledge sluggish thoughts quickly.

Now, as Yuki would note confusedly later, his body was much more unresponsive. His eyes really wouldn't open up. His heart was as slow as if he were still sleeping¹. His body was dead weight to his unmoving muscles. The blurriness in the back of his head was smotheringly strong, so much so that he nearly thought he was still dreaming. It was a surprise that he even recognized his own consciousness at all.

He did though, and ever so slowly his mind sharpened to the point where he was finally able to discern exactly what it was that he was curled up into, and if it weren't for the sedative that was still slowing his movements, he would have jumped up and woken the two of them.

Instead, because said sedative _was_ still slowing every function of his body, he just laid there.

One thing registered first: Shock. He was in this position again. On the couch. With Kyo. Again. _Cuddling. Again._

The second thing he registered: A question. How? How on earth had he gotten here? Had he walked over to Kyo again in his sleep? Oh god... _Kyo._

Amusingly enough, this was the last thing that registered in his mind before everything else jumbled together in an elucidating mess. Adrenalin of surprise pushed through his system and he froze, nearly panicking. He took a breath, let it out slowly, and tried to take in everything with more clarity.

Okay. So. He was currently sort of pinned in between Kyo and the back of the couch. Kyo was facing him. One arm was pillowing his head while the other was lying on Yuki's waist. Yuki himself was also facing Kyo, one arm completely slung around the boy while the other one lay under him falling asleep. His head was tucked under Kyo's chin.

From what he could remember, he had been arguing with Kyo before he suddenly just fell asleep on the couch... Huh. No, wait. Hatori had been here. He could vaguely remember being given some sort of vaccination. What else? There had to be, since there was still no obvious reason for him being in the current state he was in. Let's see... Shigure –

_Shigure_

Yuki nearly swore out load, but bit his tongue. No way was he about to let Kyo wake up with him still like this. No way in hell.

Moving carefully, Yuki first detached his arms from around Kyo. He used them as leverage to shift backwards very slightly so that he could remove his head from under Kyo's. Barely daring to look at the boy for fear he would wake up from that (Kyo did get annoyed when he looked at him), Yuki contemplated how he would do this.

It looked like the quickest and easiest way would be to maneuver himself up and over Kyo.

Shifting in preparation, Yuki suddenly shivered as he felt warm skin on his own.

Ah.

His mind had skimmed over the fact that the hand Kyo had on his waist was actually _under his shirt_ and on his waist. Somehow in the time he had been here, his shirt had ridden up. Yuki stared at Kyo's hand for a moment, noticing the contrast between their two skin tones before snapping out of it. No. Now was not the time for those kinds of thoughts. Now was the time for thoughts of escape. Survival. Not –

_'Were Kyo's lips warm too?'_

Yuki's face reddened immediately with embarrassment. What was he doing thinking those kinds of things at a time like this? What was wrong with him?

Feeling angry with himself (ah...there was that wonderful headache...), he shifted again, suppressing a shiver as Kyo's warm hand slipped off his waist, and lifted himself over Kyo carefully. His heart nearly dropped into his stomach when Kyo's eyebrows scrunched up, looking as if he were on the verge of waking up, but continued on shakily as his face relaxed again.

Determined to get out of there as fast as he could, Yuki turned to leave, but the corner of his eye caught on something white and he turned to look at it. A folded piece of paper had 'Dearest Cousins' written across it with a flourish.

A feeling of dread overcoming him, Yuki slowly picked up the piece of paper and read it.

_Dearest Cousins,  
__I took the Liberty of getting you two nice and comfy.  
__I also happened to take a few pictures.  
__There's one for both of you. Rip them up if you like.  
__I've got plenty._

_Shigure._

Yuki stood still, staring at the note in his hands. Yuki wondered idly if Shigure realized he had written a warrant for his own death when he looked past the note and saw the pictures that had been lying under it.

Just as the note said, there were two. They showed a close up of Yuki's head tucked neatly under Kyo's head, the two of them sleeping away unexpectedly. Part of Yuki's arm was visible strung around Kyo's body like it had been, but the focuse was mainly their faces.

"Oh shit."

Yuki paled considerably, starting.

Without giving it a second thought (or a first one, really), Yuki snatched up the photos and rushed up the stairs and into his room. There was no way Kyo – no. No way _anyone_ could ever see these. No way no way no way. Yuki proceeded to systematically rip up note Shigure had written, after which he ripped up the first picture with great care, making sure the pieces were tiny and indistinguishable. He grabbed the second picture, ready to rip it when he paused.

He looked at the picture.

He looked at it for a long time.

His mind was sending the orders for his hands to rip it up, but the signal wasn't received. Instead, it was intercepted by a stronger one that guided his hands slowly over to his dresser to open a drawer and place the picture inside.

He didn't want to rip it.

**Weeeeeeeeee. How's that for ya'? I know. Honestly, you people don't have to say it. I'm amazing. I'm just kidding of course. Leave a review!!! I eat them up! - is half asleep – Have I ever mentioned that I don't like clocks? They make me depressed.**


	5. Love Shots

**Chapter FIVE! Ha. Not much to say other than the random nonsense that could spew out of me right now since I'm on a sleep deprivation high. But I won't bore you with that. So, read on!!! -puts on battle armor-**

**Rating, pairing and disclaimer remains the same.**

**Chapter title: Dream two: Love shots**

_Kyo stood in the doorway, watching as Tohru fluttered around, making everything as clean and tidy as possible. She wouldn't stop either, going to every object in the room to straighten it or dust it somehow. As she went, Kyo noticed there was a huge clock where the Tv should have been, and it was ticking around very quickly. Suddenly, it reached a spot where it said 'school' instead of 7 and started ringing madly, floating in the air in a cartoon-like manner._

_"Oh no!" Tohru cried. "I'm late!"_

_She ran out of the room, still in her pajama's and came back in a second later, school clothes on and bag in hand. She went up to the clock and grabbed it by it's painfully noisy ringer, stopping the sound, and dragged it to the door._

_"Be good Kyo!" She called as she went out the door._

_She tipped over the clock, which fell noiselessly to the ground. She then jumped on it and drove off to school. Kyo walked back from the door and to the stairs so that he could go to his room and sleep. He was sick and needed the rest, and now was the perfect time since it was uncharacteristically quiet._

_"Kyoooooooooo!"_

_Kyo turned and saw Shigure coming up the stairs behind him, an obnoxiously large camera in his hand._

_"Kyo, say cheese!" Shigure held the camera up._

_It flashed at Kyo as he ran to his room. He didn't want his picture taken! The camera flashed again, followed by Shigures high pitched giggles. Kyo ran to his door and flung it open. He would have gone in, but there was a growling noise coming from the darkness of his room. His pillow! It sat there, teeth bared, and growled at him. Suddenly, it jumped up, flying at him with it's mouth wide open._

_Kyo stepped back quick. He didn't want to hold his breath anymore! Kyo fell into the wall and his pillow landed right in front of him. Shigure's camera flashed again, making the pillow turn to look at what it was. Shigure took another picture, the camera flashed again, and the pillow didn't like it. It growled louder, moving at Shigure with pillow-like agility. Shigure screamed and flashed the camera at it again, but the pillow jumped up and ate the camera out of his hands._

_Then it jumped up really high and dived down on Shigure's, opening it's mouth to cover his head down to his shoulders. Shigure yelled, stumbling towards Kyo. Kyo moved away from him though, not wanting anything to do with either of them, and grabbed Shigure. He threw him through the door and closed it quickly._

_All he could hear were loud noises coming from behind the door now. But oh, how loud it was! How was he supposed to get any sleep when there was so much noise? He glared at the door and kicked it, then went back down the stairs. He could just sleep on the couch instead! It was much better than being up there! He was about to lay down when Yuki walked into the room._

_"Hey! I'm laying there!" He said_

_"No I am!" Kyo replied_

_"You're too big you Cat!"_

_"No, you are, you Rat!"_

_"Don't fight. It's not good for you."_

_Yuki and Kyo looked up_

_It was Hatori! Small as a Barbie doll and wearing a large diaper, Hatori floated above them, flying on the small wings he had on his back. Also on his back was a small backpack with sharp things sticking out of it._

_"It's his fault!" Yuki said angrily._

_"Is not!" Kyo retorted._

_"Stop fighting. You have to be nice to each other. Doctors orders."_

_"No." Kyo said, adding an extra 'hmph!' for good measure._

_Hatori sighed, reaching behind him and drawing out a large shot with a heart on it. How on earth had Hatori carried that thing? It was larger than him! Kyo figured it must have been in his pocket…_

_Kyo didn't have too much time to wonder about that now though, because Hatori had thrown it! It zoomed at Yuki really fast, sticking in his arm for just a second before falling to the ground. Kyo scrunched his eyebrows as Hatori threw one at him too, but it didn't hurt. He relaxed, feeling a lot better._

_Kyo looked up at Yuki, smiling. Yuki looked back at him, also smiling._

_Yuki walked forward, throwing his arms loosely around Kyo's neck and almost managing to kiss him before they both fell over backwards onto the couch._

Kyo jolted up, the feeling of falling still settling into the pit of his stomach as he regained his bearings. He wasn't still dreaming, he knew, but being in the same spot he had fallen into when he was dreaming was a bit disconcerting. With that, he clutched his head both out of a sudden headache and from recognition of what he had just dreamt.

"Oh shit." He said to himself, pressing his head into the back of the couch. What the HELL had he just dreamt???

He started, nearly falling from the couch as he heard someone leave the room quickly. He turned in time to catch the silver topped boy nearly running from the room, something in his hand.

Kyo shrugged it off, feeling of nausea still bothering his senses, which seemed to be abnormally slow. He shook his head a little to clear the fuzziness from his thoughts, but that only helped to make him dizzy. He glance up at the Tv. It wasn't a clock at least.

Agh, he was being stupid. And hungry. Tohru must be home, since he could smell soup cooking in the kitchen. He swung his legs over the side of the couch, deciding to smite his sickness by walking to the kitchen.

He stopped abruptly in the door when he nearly ran into Tohru coming out.

"Oh! Kyo-kun! I'm so sorry!" She said.

"It's fine. Just watch where you're going." He said, not angry in the least.

"How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" She asked imploringly, delighted that he looked at least a little better.

"Terrible…" He muttered at first as the kitchen lights made him dizzy again, but then changed it as he caught the look on Tohru's face. "Better though. And no, I don't need anything."

"Ah…" Tohru looked behind him, at the couch. "Um, where did Yuki-kun go?" She asked, voice betraying the slightest bit of nervousness.

"Upstairs I think…why?" Kyo glanced at her face and immediately knew something was up.

"O-oh. Well, um, Shigure said not to disturb you since you would probably sleep for a while. A-and I didn't see him wake up, so…I just…since you…um…" She was nervous. She was blushing.

Kyo froze.

Shit. "Where…exactly…was he sleeping?" He asked slowly, dreading the answer.

Shit.

Tohru could see the horror on his face, dark clouds gathering about in the air.

"O-on the couch. With, um, you." She answered.

Kyo stood completely still, gripping the wall for support.

"O-oh, but! I won't tell anyone about it! I mean, Shigure said that it was fine, but I wasn't sure if I should wake you up or not! I'm sorry if you're upset! But, um!"

Kyo merely stood there, seething, as he stared straight through her.

Shit.

**Hahahahahahaha. It's 12: 58pm. Hahahaha! I'm hyyyyyyyperactive. Please review and feed my writing speediness! Wahahahha!**


	6. What'll he do?

**Chapter siiiiix, it's chapter sii-iiix! 1:01am and I'm feeling great ladies and gents! –dances-**

**Chapter rating, pairing and disclaimer remains the same.**

**Chapter title: What'll he do?**

Shit.

Kyo stood there for a minute, temporarily deaf to Tohru's nervous jittering about the whole situation. She quieted after an unresponsive moment, and became increasingly nervous as the silence stretched out awkwardly.

Kyo's eyes suddenly focused on her again, and Tohru could've sworn she saw flying daggers.

"Shigure…" He muttered to himself, raising an uneasy 'huh?' from Tohru. "Where's Shigure?" He reiterated angrily, an idea of where already forming in his mind.

"Ah! Um, h-he said he was going to the store to get some…pictures framed." She answered as carefully as she could.

Kyo's eye's widened. "Whaddaya mean, pictures? Of what?" Camera's…devilish, monstrous camera's in the hands of Shigure. Shigure's comment before...about getting a camera while he was stuck on the couch with Yuki...could he have been serious?

"I-I'm not exactly sure, um, he said he left a copy for you and Yuki-kun...I-I didn't want to be rude and look so..." Oh no. Tohru could tell the boy was on edge. She would have to proceed carefully, or the boy might explode.

"Where!? Where did he leave them!?" He tried not to yell, but that was proving difficult.

"On the table!"" She said, losing her nerve a bit as she saw Kyo snap.

And snap he did. He whipped around and looked under the few papers that littered the table, nearly throwing them in his angry desperation. "They're not here!" He yelled at himself. He paused for a moment, thinking. Hadn't he seen Yuki running from the room when he woke up?

With a frustrated growl, Kyo turned again and stomped by Tohru and up the stairs.

"Ah! Kyo-kun! Y-you shouldn't be moving around too much! You're still sick!"

Kyo ignored her for the moment. When he reached Yuki's door, he abruptly kicked it open. Thankfully Yuki hadn't locked it, or it might have broken.

Yuki, who had been standing dazedly in front of his dresser, jumped as his door slammed back against the wall and Kyo entered.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Kyo demanded.

Yuki could feel the color rush to his face, but put on his cool demeanor. "What are you yelling about now?"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB DAMMIT! THE PICTURES!" Kyo yelled, readying himself to tear Yuki's room apart, if need be.

"If you're talking about the ones Shigure took then you're too late. I ripped them up." Yuki folded his arms over his chest. How had Kyo found out about them already?

"Where those the _only_ ones?" Kyo did not want that kind of...blackmail...in the hands of a guy like that.

Yuki sighed. "I don't think so. Knowing him, he's already made copies."

"WHAT THE HELL!" Kyo yelled, leaving the room and stomping back down the hall. "THAT DAMNED PERVERT!"

Yuki winced. "Keep it down..." He muttered half-heartedly.

He slumped back onto his bed. That was close. If Kyo had come in just a few seconds earlier, he would have seen what Yuki had really done with one of the pictures. He groaned. What exactly was he planning on doing with it anyway?

More importantly, what on earth did Shigure plan to do with those pictures?

**Tra la la la. We're supposed to get a niiiice big snowstorm soon. I love snowstorms. They make me laugh. My gosh I'm feeling random... Don't forget to review! XD**


	7. Damn You, Shigure!

**I'm on my last chapter to rewrite. Ha. I've totally got everything down pat. I know exactly where the story is going now, and how it's going to end, and all my chapters already written. Ha! I laugh at...myself? Whatever. Read and enjoy!**

**Ratings, pairings and disclaimer remains the same**

**Chapter title: Damn You, Shigure!**

So much fun, so much fun. Of course, what kind of person would Shigure have been _not_ to watch the entire situation from just outside the house. Thankfully Tohru was home when he saw Yuki begin to stir, and had managed to tell her he was leaving and get a wonderful view from the window before it all went down. Ah, young love... Actually, he had been surprised that Kyo had figured everything out with relative ease. Had Kyo always been that smart, or was it just because he was sick?

Oh, how Shigure wished he could have followed him up the stairs to watch the scene unfold. He already knew he was in for it though, and returning home was _not_ something he was looking forward to, but it couldn't be helped. If he was to get the desired results, he would have to succumb to some of the pain involved. Ah... he wondered how much -

"Here are your photos sir." The store clerk said, handing them to him over the counter.

"Ah, yes, thank you." Shigure said smiling.

"Have a nice night."

_Oh_, Shigure thought, _I'm sure I'll have a pleasant one._

Nearly singing as he walked out of the store, Shigure opened the envelope containing his newly framed pictures and chuckled happily to himself.

He would have to right a letter of gratitude to whoever created such a wonderful scanner that allowed you to enhance and frame photos.

(Seriously, does anyone know if Shigure owns a car? ;;)

Shigure sneakily walked around the house to look inside the window, checking to see if the coast was clear. The sedative Hatori had given the two lovebirds earlier was sure to have worn off by now, so he had to be extra careful. With any luck, they had already gone to bed.

Shigure frowned. Inside, he could see Tohru looking worriedly towards the door as Yuki sat at the table with a bowl of soup in front of him and a blanket about his shoulders. Where was -

"What. Do you think. You're doing?" Said a horribly angry voice.

Ah? How had he snuck up on him?

Shigure turned around slowly, smiling, to see Kyo standing behind him looking rather ill. His face was set into a deep frown, teeth grinding together and eyes dangerously cat-like.

"Kyo-chan!" Shigure exclaimed nervously, not helping his situation in the least. "What on earth are you doing out here?"

"I am going to KILL YOU!" Kyo yelled, lunging at Shigure, who ducked with surprising speed and ran to his office, throwing a quick hello to a bewildered Tohru and ill-looking Yuki before shutting and locking the door before Kyo had gotten half way across the room.

"DAMMIT SHIGURE!" Kyo yelled, pounding on the door. There was no point in trying to break this one down though. Even if Kyo did have the strength needed to accomplish such a task, experience had led Shigure to make this particular door of strong, thick, and stable wood. Before Kyo gave up and went off to bed, he had managed to leave a nicely sized dent in the wood though, labeling said door as quarantined.

Even though Yuki didn't take part in the attempted assassination, he couldn't help but think o himself along with Kyo

_Damn you, Shigure_

**Alright! Now on to the new chapters! HAHAHAHAHA! I feel niiice and accomplished. Please review, because even though I've got the rest of the story already written out, don't think I'm just going to hand out the chapters willy-nilly! C'mon, show your devotion!**


	8. Check up

**Alright! -pumps fist in the air- Check me out! Updating! It's an empowering feeling, my friends! I must say I am excited to receive new reviews for my new chapter! So! Please read on and enjoy my updated story. Oh, and before I forget...**

**NOTE: For those of you who didn't realize, I have completely updated this entire story. Not too much is different, only some descriptive things and the wording, but I did rewrite it so there might be a few things in future chapters that relate back to said rewritten chapters.**

**Chapter title: Check up**

Hatori sighed irritably. This wasn't quite what he had in mind when he had given Kyo and Yuki that medicine laced with sedative. Coming back for a quick check up the next day, he had expected to find his patients patients recovering with the help the medicine. He had expected them to be well rested, relaxing, and keeping relative peace. Hatori had to remind himself exactly what house this was, and exactly who lived in it.

Instead, what the two he had come to check up on were like this.

Kyo was simply a mess. His temperature had shot up to 101° Fahrenheit. His headache had gotten much worse, nearly threw up after trying to eat some fish, got dizzy when he stood up and had apparently transformed twice during the night and once that morning.

Yuki's temperature was one degree lower than Kyo's, but he wasn't off much better. He, too, complained of a headache and stomach pain, was also unable to stand up due to nausea and his body temperature was fluctuating abnormally. He hadn't transformed yet, but his bronchial tubes were beginning to be affected by his illness.

Hatori was able to trace the cause of this down to one person: Shigure Sohma.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it." Hatori said after getting his medical kit from his car to do a more thorough check up on the two boys. "The stress levels you're causing is aggravating the bug they've got. They shouldn't be running around because you're trying to stir things up again." Hatori took a moment to pointedly glare at Shigure before walking up the stairs to Yuki's room.

"Aaaw, but Haari! I need to pay for those things I bought online _somehow_. With this, I can-"

"I don't want to know." Hatori said. "I _really_ don't want to know."

Hatori entered Yuki's room to see him lying on his back, face flushed and a cool cloth draped over his forehead. He looked at Hatori and Shigure as they entered the room, glaring at the latter.

Hatori also sent Shigure a look, who whimpered and left the room, muttering something about cruel people and cold looks.

"You need to take it easy." Hatori said, motioning for Yuki to sit up. "Getting worked up like it appears you've been isn't good for your health right now. Take off your shirt.

Yuki didn't say anything, his face still flushed, hand on his pillow as he steadied himself and removed his shirt.

Hatori poked and prodded him, listened to his heart and checked his eyes' dilation. As far as Hatori could tell, there weren't any serious adverse reactions in Yuki's body to this flu bug. His blood pressure was a bit low and his lymph nodes were slightly swollen from coughing, which in turn affected his bronchial tubes to the point were he only needed to watch how active he was. Other than that, he would just need to care for himself as he normally would when he had a cold. Which meant no running about because of whatever Shigure was doing.

"Get plenty of rest, lay low, and try not to do anything that will make your stress rise." Hatori said briefly, setting his things into his bag momentarily for the trip back down to check up on Kyo. "Make sure you eat, too. Only simple foods, though, so your stomach isn't upset." Hatori stood as Yuki pulled his shirt back on.

"Got it." Yuki muttered.

Hatori turned and left the room. Yuki was fine, now at least. Though the sedative had well worn off by now, the medicine should still be working him towards better health. All the boy had to do was stay in bed or on the couch and just relax normally his temperature would probably drop dramatically.

Kyo was sitting on the couch, a blanket that Tohru had gotten him covering him as he watched something on Tv on the Sci-Fi channel. He was looking slightly pale, but other than that could probably pull off looking as if he were fine.

"I'll say the same thing to you." Hatori said, reopening his medical bag. "You need to take it easy and just rest. Don't eat anything strange like fish and just stick to simple stuff. Take off your shirt."

"Like that's possible with the damned dog around..." Kyo grumbled, pulling his shirt off.

"I've spoken to Shigure. You have to try not to get riled up." Hatori said lightly, beginning to poke and prod Kyo as well.

"Like that'll stop him..." Kyo mumbled, but otherwise stayed quiet.

Hatori proceeded to check Kyo's vitals, making sure the cold wasn't having any strange reactions on him. Only his blood pressure seemed a bit high. Other than that, he just needed to not run around like he had been last night (he had gotten the details from Tohru and Shigure) and he would getting better fairly soon. Of course, nothing was that simple in _this _house, so it would probably take longer than usual...oh well.

Kyo's lymph nodes were a little swollen too, Hatori noticed, though the boy didn't seem to have a cough. Well, he reasoned, lymph nodes often got swollen even if you just had a sore throat, and sometimes if you're dehydrated.

Hatori blinked and looked up as Kyo's head swiveled to the side, momentarily interrupting him. "What're you looking at?" Hatori merely nudged his chin back so he could continue. He would not get involved. He would not get involved.

He got involved.

A minute later Kyo looked over again. "Would you get out of here!?" Kyo yelled, angrily, and this time Hatori turned to see Shigure with a camera in his hands.

"I thought I took that from you." Hatori said, not pleased.

"I have more than one!" Shigure said nicely, holding it up as if proving it.

Hatori sighed. "You're done." He said to Kyo before turning on Shigure, who snapped a quick picture of his face.

Shigure whimpered pathetically as Hatori snatched the camera out of his hands and proceeded to walk to the door, Shigure following him.

Hatori turned on them. "Shigure. I'm tired. The whole Sohma house has, inevitably, come down with this same bug. I don't need these two getting worse off just because you're teasing them about one thing or another, so at least wait until they're not sick anymore, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, Hatori turned and went off to his car (not giving the camera back).

"I believe in you Haari!" Shigure called after him.

Hatori ignored him, turning on his car as he wondered if he'd be called back here for yet another unpleasant check up.

**This was pretty much a filler chapter, I think. It kinda sets what the next chapter will be like... sort of...okay, maybe not really, but in my messed up mind it does! So, you know the drill. You read. You review. I post more. K? Oh, and please PLEASE tell me if there are any mistakes anywhere. Fanfiction tends to take out spaces between words and whatnot when I load it up (and I'm not exactly the grammar queen myself). LOVE YOU ALL!! PEACE!**


	9. Check up: A Deeper Look

**Hooooola everyone! Got this chapter all done! Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed last chapter! You really helped me get through my procrastination problems! I was really surprised to get all those emails saying that someone had reviewed or added my story to their alerts! The next chapter should be out soon since I know exactly where this story is going (for once). So hang tight and make sure to review to keep me motivated!!!**

**Pairings, Warnings, Disclaimers and all that remains the same.**

**Chapter Title: Check up; A Deeper Look**

That night, Kyo had dreamed intermittently of fish as he randomly transformed twice during the night. The first time, he had woken up a cat and was actually chewing on his pillow. The second time, he merely curled back up under the covers and went back to sleep, stomach twisting uncomfortably. He hadn't had much at all to eat for dinner, what with trying to break down Shigure's door, so when he woke up early that morning he was rather hungry, but laid there trying to convince himself to get up until he fell asleep again. Sometime in the afternoon he woke up after dreaming of a happy fish talking to him as it cooked in a pot of boiling water, and decided to satisfy his craving.

He didn't really think much of it when his headache started up as he walked down the stairs, and he really didn't give much thought to that he was, in fact, sick with some sort of stomach bug. What he was thinking of was the few wraps of fish sushi he knew was in the fridge.

He only ate two. Only two! He figured he would save the rest since he liked them a lot, and he didn't want to make himself sick. Five minutes later, after sitting down on the chair (_"Now the dog can't pull anymore stunts."_) he sprang up, green in the face, and rushed into the bathroom to go empty his stomach.

_Then _he thought twice about it. He came to the conclusion that he wouldn't eat fish until he was better.

After that, he took a catnap on the chair for about an hour, waking up and feeling unusually listless. Even though he honestly felt like crap, it bothered him incessantly that he couldn't do anything while he was sick. He had sat on the couch, thinking for a while of what a sick person could do to entertain themselves when it struck him.

Shigure, with his usual skewed sleeping habits, was probably still sleeping. Meaning he wasn't in his office. MEANING that the door would be unlocked.

In his search, Kyo found transcripts. He found porno books. He found romance novels. He found pens. He found some odd stuffed animals. He found a bag of chips. He found paper, notebooks, books, a laptop, a box of forks, a spoon, an odd nurse outfit, some yarn, a sewing machine, and many other random objects. Kyo even found a small safe.

To say the least, Kyo did not find the pictures, or even any cameras.

Going back to the chair, all he managed to bring back was a throbbing headache and an upset stomach (courtesy of the wonderful perv books Shigure wrote), and it was where he had been ever since, grumpily watching TV to pass the time.

He spent a good amount of time wondering just what Shigure would do with pictures like that. The jerk would probably flaunt them around to Hatori and Ayame, gloating or something about how he was so fortunate as to catch them in such a rare situation. It made him grimace just thinking about that loud-mouthed snake traipsing into their house with Shigure on his heels.

He didn't even know what the pictures looked like, which made it worse. For all he knew, he could have been freaking on top of the damned rat. Or vice-versa. He definitely wasn't going to ask the rat though. No way. That was the last topic of discussion he wanted to get into with Yuki. He had already suffered enough humility at his hands, anyway. He hadn't been that intimately in contact with _anyone_ since his days at Shishou's, and even then it hadn't been all awkward like that. Yuki was the _rat_ and he was the _cat_. Even if it _had_ been enjoyable (to a very slight degree), it wasn't as if it could work.

Wait a second. _Work??_

Kyo smacked his head, wondering if he was getting delirious.

"Didn't I tell you to keep your stress levels down?" Kyo looked around tiredly, spotting Hatori and Shigure entering the house. So that's where the dog had gone.

"Like it's my fault…" Kyo muttered. leaning back into the chair as Hatori came over and glanced quickly over his features.

"You look horrible…" Hatori muttered, pressing a hand to Kyo's forehead. "Worse than when I came here the first time… You're burning up."

"Well, I did throw up this morning…"

Hatori adopted his 'stern-ass doctor' look. "What else?"

Augh…Kyo could already taste the disgusting medicine Hatori would force feed him.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Yuki, surprisingly, was up and fully awake, though he was still feeling horrible. Last night he hadn't been able to fall asleep at all, since even that soup he had for dinner seemed to be in conflict with his stomach. On top of that, the headache he had thought left him yesterday came back full force as he was faced with trying to get out of bed, which only caused him to nauseous at the change in height.

It was said nausea that he blamed his retrieval of the picture on.

Yuki couldn't help but stare at the picture. Or, more specifically, Kyo's face. Hair mussed up from sleep, mouth open slightly to let a breath in and out, faced tinged with a light red flush due to his illness. What stood out to Yuki, though, was the completely relaxed features of his face.

He never saw Kyo without a glare or something akin to one on his face, much less a real smile. The few times Yuki had caught Kyo sleeping somewhere around the house was a rain induced sleep, which didn't seem to allow for much relaxation. His brow was always furrowed, eyes always narrowed, and body always tense as if expecting an attack on his person at any moment. That was Yuki's everyday view of Kyo.

It was strange. It made something coil in his stomach uncomfortably and caused him to flush at his own thoughts. He felt very weird to be looking at Kyo like this. He didn't know why he was fixated on such a trivial matter as what Kyo looked like without a glare. It was ridiculous. Besides, it felt almost wrong to be looking when Kyo didn't know it, giving him an odd guilty feeling.

It wasn't as if he was doing anything wrong, though. So Kyo didn't know he had the picture. So Kyo couldn't jump up and yell at him to stop staring. It was just a picture. Of Kyo. And him… sleeping on the couch… together…

Yuki flushed.

Suddenly, a pair of voices snapped Yuki out of his thoughts just outside the door, and he shoved the picture under his pillow quickly, reaching over to grab the cloth he had taken off his head to cool down and plopped it back on his forehead.

"I _really_ don't want to know." It was Hatori and Shigure, Yuki saw as the doctor opened the door to his room without knocking. Shigure looked prepared to follow after him into the room, but Yuk tensed. This was Shigure; the ultimately perceptive and evil dog. The picture was directly under his head. If Shigure found it…. Yuki sent Shigure his coldest glare.

This was all his fault, wasn't it? If it wasn't for him meddling around in things and playing his stupid pranks Yuki wouldn't be stressing over such little things as the cat and how he looked sleeping, how comfy he was, how warm his skin was - Yuki cut off his thoughts there. It was the sickness talking, not him. Not him.

He was relieved when the dog left, whimpering something incoherent.

"You need to take it easy." Hatori told him quietly, motioning for Yuki to sit up. "Getting worked up like it appears you've been isn't good for your health right now. Take off your shirt."

Yuki paled slightly as he realized his – _the_ picture could easily be discovered if he jostled too much. Hatori wouldn't be like Shigure and blab or anything like that, but the very thought of _anyone _finding out about it was… humiliating.

Praying he wasn't being noticeable, Yuki pressed the pillow over the picture down, holding it there as he pretended to keep his balance and removed his shirt.

Yuki stayed quiet while Hatori checked him over, prodding his rib cage and throat in various places. His hands were chilly, and he had to try desperately not to suddenly think about how it would feel if it were Kyo's _warm_ hands touching him instead. When you make a conscious effort _not_ to think about something, though, you inevitably end up thinking about it more than you would have in the first place. Yuki felt himself blushing again.

It was wrong to think like that. Completely wrong. Besides, it wasn't as if he could actually say anything about really liking Kyo, could he? He didn't know all that much about him… it was only that he was warm… Yuki was sick, Kyo was the cat, and their house was what it was. So what if he and the other boy were placed in odd places if those variables were all put together? It wasn't as if it was an abnormal occurrence.

He was just overreacting.

Hatori finally finished, placing his stethoscope back in his bag with a sigh. "Get plenty of rest, lay low, and try not to do anything that will make your stress rise. Make sure you eat, too. Only simple foods, though, so your stomach isn't upset." Yuki pulled his shirt back on, muttering an affirmation as Hatori left before slumping down onto his bed.

Feeling a little hungry with the mention of food, Yuki stood up slowly, waiting for a moment so he could get a level head before moving forward. If he stayed at least sitting up that feeling would stop being as strong when he stood. He didn't want to hang around downstairs, though. Or at least, he didn't think he wanted to.

But, Yuki thought as he walked down the hall, maybe he _could_ hang around Kyo a little more. To remind himself of exactly why he disliked the hot-headed, arrogant, stupid fight-crazy cat. It sounded simple enough. He knew how badly Kyo could get on his nerves, and hanging around him more would certainly make him more aware of the fact, right? Just like that, he could dash away all those stupid thoughts of Kyo and he could rest at peace again. Hatori did say to keep his stress levels down, didn't he?

Feeling slightly more confident, Yuki made his way downstairs. He was just about to walk into the kitchen when he glanced over to where Hatori was examining Kyo and stopped.

Shit.

Kyo's shirt was off, showing that lightly tanned skin, orange hair contrasting sharply with it. His body was lightly toned from his years of training at the dojo, still managing to look thin and lithe throughout the years. Yuki's eye's traveled over him, from his face to where his smooth waist dipped out of sight. He had seen Kyo without a shirt on plenty of times, though, right? This wasn't any different. Not at all.

He was just overreacting…

Yuki jumped when Kyo suddenly turned and spotted him staring. "What're you looking at?" He snapped at him before Hatori turned his head back again.

Yuki quickly went through to the kitchen. That definitely had not helped. Oh god - had he really just looked at Kyo like that?

Yuki closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. What on earth was he thinking? There wasn't anything odd about it, nothing at all. Kyo was good looking, he could admit that. It didn't mean that he wanted to look at him like that, or that he was going to obsess over every little thing like some fangirl.

Hadn't he just spent all that time starting at Kyo though?

Yuki desperately grabbed a box of townhouse crackers before retreating back upstairs quickly. He didn't need to think of this now. Not now.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Kyo was grumbling quietly, slipping his shirt on as he heard Hatori's car drive off. Where had Shigure pull out that camera from? He had ravaged his entire office! Did he keep the damn things in his safe or something? Maybe he slept with them under his pillow. Knowing him, he probably had a whole stash of disposable cameras hidden under his mattress or something.

He wondered it he could get away with possibly locking Shigure out of the house for a night. He didn't want to deal with the stupid dog and his tricks anymore. Plus, Kyo suspected that if he could have at least _one_ night without the man bothering and teasing him, he would make some good progress in recovering. Those stupid tricks he was pulling with him and Yuki were really getting to him, whether he liked to admit it or not. Being forced into those kinds of situations with Yuki made him uneasy, especially when it came to being around the boy regularly.

Not to mention that Yuki seemed to be acting a little odd around him now. What was up with him staring earlier when Hatori was checking up on him? He couldn't help but notice that his eyes were trained on his exposed skin before flying up to look at Kyo when he shouted, looking like a little kid caught doing something naughty.

Not that _that_ could be the case. Yuki hated him as much as Kyo hated him. Their feelings were mutual. There was no way that it could be anything weird like that…

Not that he had anything against people who were gay.

And it wasn't as if it disgusted him if Yuki was like that. '_Wouldn't surprise me either'_ Kyo thought with a snicker.

It was just that, well, if it _was_ like that, and Yuki _had_ been looking at him like that…

…Things would get a bit complicated.

Thoughts drifting away of their own accord, Kyo fell asleep, sinking low into the cushions of the chair.

**Another chapter, done! Hahaa! Again, I feel accomplished! Remember to review, okay? As always, I kinda suck at grammar sometimes, so tell me if there are any mistakes, or any weird moments that don't fit or anything. Any kind of comment makes me work faster, 'specially when I get lots and lots!!! Plus, if you guys don't review i won't update until i get a good amount of them...muahah**

**Oh, and can anyone tell me how the new 'beta reader' thing works on fanfiction now? I don't want one, but can someone tell me where you would look to get one? Thanks!!! **


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